Today we had orientation. There are some pretty crazy ruled at the Institute we are staying at! The boys and girls are not allowed to hang out in each others dorms AT ALL. There is ABSOLUTELY no PDA no holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc). These are just the most extreme rules, and are very frustrating, not only to us, but most the people on the trip. Many of us are feeling like we are being treated like kids, and we are having a hard time dealing with this. We are hoping that once we get past the orientation we ill have more freedom to explore Cape Town on our own and do things that we want to do! After orientation, we walked around Town with mentors that had been assigned to us. Joey had to stay behind because the doctor recommended that he stay off of his leg. No one was staying behind so I knew that no one would be able to check on Joey. This was also frustrating because I wasn’t allowed in his dorm so I could not check and make sure he was doing okay. I went with my group, but I got take away food for Joey and brought it back to him. Because I am not allowed in his dorm, and there were no boys at BI from our group, I found myself outside the boys dorm yelling, trying to get his attention to give him his food. Lucily, another man heard and got Joey for me. My group was supposed to come by and get me after they ate, but they never did so I stayed and hung out with Joey and relaxed which was nice. At night, we packed up our stuff and left for home stays! We had a dinner where we got to meet with all of the families that we would be staying at for the next week!! Christina and I are staying with a couple named Lucy and Clive. Joey and Lucas are staying with Thelma and Lantor. We are very excited for home stays!! J
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
We have ARRIVED :)
We have finally arrived in Cape Town!! Yay!! It is absolutely beautiful here!!! The only problem is: Joey still has the bad infection on his leg L I informed the leaders this morning that he needed to go to the Dr. as soon as we arrived in Cape Town tonight, but when I told them again they said they didn’t make an appointment so he would need to go tomorrow. This wasn’t going to fly with me because I had already told them and I was EXTREMELY worried about him :/ After pushing for this option, they took us to a medical center where they put him on a heavy dose of antibiotics, told him not to walk for the next two days, and asked him to come back in two days. We will stay the night at the Bible institute tonight and we will both begin our home stays tomorrow night!! We are so excited!!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Carmel by the Sea - George, SA
On Tuesday and Wednesday night we stayed at a place called Carmel by the Sea. This place was very relaxing and absolutely beautiful!! Joey and I were able to walk around, watch movies/talk with friends, and catch up on some sleep. We were facing a challenge at this point in our travel week: Joey had an infection on his leg that continued ot get worse every day :/ He had an ingrown hair on his thigh before we started our travel week that got infected. Basically, we got all he puss out and it started to heal. He then got another one on his calf and it wasn’t cooperating s well as the other one. It was WAY to painful to try to push. His entire calf was red, HARD, and HOT. I told our leaders that he needed to go to the doctor and they told us that we would be able to take him first thing in Cape Town, which would be on Thursday. He had to keep taking Advil because it was hurting him to walk! L Poor guy.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Bungee Jumping off the world's HIGHEST bungee bridge!!
So today we arrived at the world’s highest bungee bridge!! This is not a joke… this bungee bridge is in the Guinness book of world records!! J And guess what?? Yep, we both jumped off of it!! We showed up and I was freaking out!! I kept saying “As long as I see someone go before me I will be fine.” Just looking at the bridge made my stomach turn! It is SOOO high and was just absolutely crazy to look at the bridge and know we would soon be jumping off of it!! We paid, got harnessed up, and went straight to the bridge because we were in the first group. We had to walk along this path underneath the bridge to get to the platform and I was already shaking with fear just walking this path. Did I mention that this path is SUPER HIGH (same as the bridge) it is see through and has wires with holes in it on all sides, and moves beneath your feet when you walk?? I walked super slow and was so scared of this pathway!! We get to the platform and I saw that my friend Beka was crying. I asked her why she was craying and she said because they told her she was going first. I was like man.. that sucks.. Then they give us a little talk and say ok “J13 is up first.” So I look down at my hand and I AM J13!!! So…. Then I started crying (involuntarily). It is just such a crazy/scary feeling and I was so scared and hadn’t been able to see a single person jump off the bridge yet! I knew I couldn’t back out of going first out of the whole group, so I sucked it up (with the help of Joey’s comfort) and got harnessed up! Then I went up to the platform and JUMPED!!! It was such a CRAZY feeling free falling off of that bridge for somewhere between 5-10 seconds. The scenery was ABSOLUTELY beautiful and it was just SO fun!! One after another, our group was jumping. Then it was Joey’s turn!! J He wasn’t scared AT ALL!! Crazy boy!! He went up to the platform and JUMPED!! His jump was SOOO good! Then after he jumped and got to the bottom he was doing a little fist-pump action!! We both just had a blast! We bought our videos and can’t wait to show everyone back home! They are pretty awesome! J
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Beginning the Journey to Cape Town.
We are officially on our way to Cape Town! We woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning and were on the road by 7. We had a ten hour drive, but luckily the bus we are taking is pretty comfortable. We are now staying the night at a hotel that is RIGHT on the beach. We were able to walk on the beach for a few hours today and talk with friends which was awesome!! We are continuing our journey tomorrow! We will be bungee jumping in two days!! We are both SUPER nervous, but very excited!! :) Love and miss everyone from home!!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Last Day at African Enterprise
Today was an amazing last day at African Enterprise (the campus we have stayed at for the past 11 weeks). We started off the day by going to the Lion Park, because we were a part of the group that didn't see lions on safari. That was absolutely awesome. Not only did we see lions, but we also got to pet, and feed elephants. In fact being with the elephants was the best part! The lions were fun to pass by, their beauty and strength are breathtaking. Katie was sticking her camera our through a crack in the window and the lion saw her hand and charged! She pulled it back in time, but was a bit shaken up. It was such a great way to start the day, elephants and lions!
When we got back we went on a hike to the third water fall. It was a perfect day to go because it was extremely hot, so it felt great to cool off in the water of the falls. We had a great time despite some bumps and bruises people received (including me).
We ended the day with a farewell dinner. A few of the women from our service site came, GuGu and Nomvula, and it was so wonderful to see them. We spent the evening chatting with them and eating the best meal we have had on campus so far.
It is weird, if feels like just yesterday we were pulling up to the campus and now we are leaving. However, the part that is making me bummed is leaving the friendships we have made with the people at our service sites. They have truly become our friends and we love them dearly.
Now off to Cape Town! We will give you updates as we get internet!
When we got back we went on a hike to the third water fall. It was a perfect day to go because it was extremely hot, so it felt great to cool off in the water of the falls. We had a great time despite some bumps and bruises people received (including me).
We ended the day with a farewell dinner. A few of the women from our service site came, GuGu and Nomvula, and it was so wonderful to see them. We spent the evening chatting with them and eating the best meal we have had on campus so far.
It is weird, if feels like just yesterday we were pulling up to the campus and now we are leaving. However, the part that is making me bummed is leaving the friendships we have made with the people at our service sites. They have truly become our friends and we love them dearly.
Now off to Cape Town! We will give you updates as we get internet!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Our last week at RivLife :(
We just finished up our last week at RivLife. Our last day was filled with joy, tears, and laughter. We are so thankful for the time that we were able to spend at RivLife! I will highlight some exciting things that happened this week and then talk about our last day at our service site.
On Monay: we worked in the garden and said our goodbyes to these women. Then, as always, we went to the Creche and hung out with the kids there, and then finished up our day at the drop in center
On Wednesday: we went to the Gogo support group in Madiba and we ended up staying later and did some home visits with Nomvula. In our time with the gogo's, they fed us a meal, we bought some scarfs from them, took pictures with them, thanked them, and were able to spend our last day just hanging out, talking, and laughing with these women. They gave all of our team members a bead necklace as a thank you which was so cool! After our time with these women, we began doing home visits. I think our whole group would agree that these home visits were an amazing experience for all of us. Although we had spent the last few weeks at an AIDS support group, this was the first time that the reality of the disease has really hit me. There is usually at least one person per home that is infected with the disease and we saw people who were very, very sick. This really challenged me and my faith because I started thinking "Do I have faith great enough that God could heal people THIS sick?" It is very overwhelming to see people this sick and to have the amount of faith it takes to know that God can do ANYTHING. We were able to pray over people in all four homes that we visited which was also amazing. In one of the homes, we were about to leave when they asked us to stay a little longer so that they could talk to us. We did not know what to expect in this moment, but then the man in the home disclosed to Nomvula that he was also HIV positive. After a person discloses, Nomvula (or whoever their sponsor is) can then go through the process of helping them apply for grants in order to receive money to help pay for their treatments. The strength and courage that these people have is truly amazing! Although many people do not want to be tested because of the social stigma that comes along with being positive, there are many who have been tested and continue to rely on God through all of their struggles.
On Thursday: we started out by going to the HIV/AIDS support group. We arrived and all of the women and children were dressed in their traditional Zulu skirts and beads and they had a table set up with a bunch of crafts that they had made. They started out by serving all of us traditional Zulu bread and some sort of cooked leaves that are healthy for you :) Then, they had all of their kids sing and dance for us. During the singing and dancing, they presented us with gifts that they had made for us. The boys received these wooden sticks that are a traditional thing in South Africa and a bead necklace and the girls received a bead necklace and earrings! Then we sat in a circle with these women and talked about our experiences that we had with them. This was truly amazing because they told us how much we impacted and changed their lives and we were able to tell them the same. They told us that we made them feel loved, we made them feel like human beings again, they appreciated that we didn't treat them any different then we would other people. It was SO amazing to see the ways that God had worked within this community that we formed with them. This time that we spent at this support group really affirmed in our group the power of relationships and sharing God's love. We originally wanted to help these women with their business, help them plan things for their group, etc. But after meeting with them, we decided that relationships and love and helping them to see their worth and value was something that would really benefit them as a group. It was VERY hard to say goodbye to these women. They all started crying and we just kept hugging them and hugging them. We took tons of pictures and told them that we would continue to write to them. We reminded them that they are SO loved and that we have learned so much from them and have truly been impacted by their faith in God. As we were leaving, Lindiwe (the new woman who started coming to the support group) was crying and telling us how much we have impacted her life. She said that when she was diagnosed with AIDS, she felt like she was given the death sentence. She said she had been locking herself in her house and just cleaning and avoiding going out in the community. She told us that we were able to make her feel loved again, to make her feel like a human again. She told us that she is going to continue going to the support group, go out of her house, she is going to start going to church again, and she is going to love herself again. This was SUCH an amazing testimony of God's presence and love in this situation. We then went to the Creche and had to say goodbye to Gogo Beatrice and all the kids. The kids were hugging us over and over and the little boys were dog-piling Luke and Joey. Being with these kids day in and day out for the last three and a half weeks has brought so much joy to our lives. Then, we went to the drop-in center where they had prepared CHAKA-LAKA for us as a goodbye meal! It was delicious and we played with the kids for our last hour and a half and finally said our goodbyes. Saying goodbye to everyone was definitely hard, but we also know that the Lord has brought us so much joy from the people at RivLife. We have no regrets in the way we did things during our time there. God is so good and so faithful, and these people at RivLife have brought nothing other than joy, laughter, and love into our lives!! They will forever be a memory and will always have a small piece of our hearts!
WE LOVE RIVLIFE <33
On Monay: we worked in the garden and said our goodbyes to these women. Then, as always, we went to the Creche and hung out with the kids there, and then finished up our day at the drop in center
On Tuesday: we went to the HIV/AIDS support group and the new women who had been talking to the boys the previous week showed up for the group!! This was very exciting to us because she has been struggling with the disease and we know that this support group will be a great place for her to get involved and discuss her struggles.
On Wednesday: we went to the Gogo support group in Madiba and we ended up staying later and did some home visits with Nomvula. In our time with the gogo's, they fed us a meal, we bought some scarfs from them, took pictures with them, thanked them, and were able to spend our last day just hanging out, talking, and laughing with these women. They gave all of our team members a bead necklace as a thank you which was so cool! After our time with these women, we began doing home visits. I think our whole group would agree that these home visits were an amazing experience for all of us. Although we had spent the last few weeks at an AIDS support group, this was the first time that the reality of the disease has really hit me. There is usually at least one person per home that is infected with the disease and we saw people who were very, very sick. This really challenged me and my faith because I started thinking "Do I have faith great enough that God could heal people THIS sick?" It is very overwhelming to see people this sick and to have the amount of faith it takes to know that God can do ANYTHING. We were able to pray over people in all four homes that we visited which was also amazing. In one of the homes, we were about to leave when they asked us to stay a little longer so that they could talk to us. We did not know what to expect in this moment, but then the man in the home disclosed to Nomvula that he was also HIV positive. After a person discloses, Nomvula (or whoever their sponsor is) can then go through the process of helping them apply for grants in order to receive money to help pay for their treatments. The strength and courage that these people have is truly amazing! Although many people do not want to be tested because of the social stigma that comes along with being positive, there are many who have been tested and continue to rely on God through all of their struggles.
On Thursday: we started out by going to the HIV/AIDS support group. We arrived and all of the women and children were dressed in their traditional Zulu skirts and beads and they had a table set up with a bunch of crafts that they had made. They started out by serving all of us traditional Zulu bread and some sort of cooked leaves that are healthy for you :) Then, they had all of their kids sing and dance for us. During the singing and dancing, they presented us with gifts that they had made for us. The boys received these wooden sticks that are a traditional thing in South Africa and a bead necklace and the girls received a bead necklace and earrings! Then we sat in a circle with these women and talked about our experiences that we had with them. This was truly amazing because they told us how much we impacted and changed their lives and we were able to tell them the same. They told us that we made them feel loved, we made them feel like human beings again, they appreciated that we didn't treat them any different then we would other people. It was SO amazing to see the ways that God had worked within this community that we formed with them. This time that we spent at this support group really affirmed in our group the power of relationships and sharing God's love. We originally wanted to help these women with their business, help them plan things for their group, etc. But after meeting with them, we decided that relationships and love and helping them to see their worth and value was something that would really benefit them as a group. It was VERY hard to say goodbye to these women. They all started crying and we just kept hugging them and hugging them. We took tons of pictures and told them that we would continue to write to them. We reminded them that they are SO loved and that we have learned so much from them and have truly been impacted by their faith in God. As we were leaving, Lindiwe (the new woman who started coming to the support group) was crying and telling us how much we have impacted her life. She said that when she was diagnosed with AIDS, she felt like she was given the death sentence. She said she had been locking herself in her house and just cleaning and avoiding going out in the community. She told us that we were able to make her feel loved again, to make her feel like a human again. She told us that she is going to continue going to the support group, go out of her house, she is going to start going to church again, and she is going to love herself again. This was SUCH an amazing testimony of God's presence and love in this situation. We then went to the Creche and had to say goodbye to Gogo Beatrice and all the kids. The kids were hugging us over and over and the little boys were dog-piling Luke and Joey. Being with these kids day in and day out for the last three and a half weeks has brought so much joy to our lives. Then, we went to the drop-in center where they had prepared CHAKA-LAKA for us as a goodbye meal! It was delicious and we played with the kids for our last hour and a half and finally said our goodbyes. Saying goodbye to everyone was definitely hard, but we also know that the Lord has brought us so much joy from the people at RivLife. We have no regrets in the way we did things during our time there. God is so good and so faithful, and these people at RivLife have brought nothing other than joy, laughter, and love into our lives!! They will forever be a memory and will always have a small piece of our hearts!
WE LOVE RIVLIFE <33
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